The Post Office

ASHTON LOWER ASHTON SX 88 SW 5/31 The Post Office GV II Post office. Mid C17 with some C20 alterations. Colourwashed rendered stone rubble and cob; thatched roof, hipped at ends; right end stack to main block, end stack to single storey block at end of rear wing. Plan: L plan with an acute angle at the corner. The main block, the Post Office, is single depth and now one room wide with an outshut at the right end, it was probably originally 2 rooms wide, heated room to the right, fireplace now concealed. A rear left wing, at an acute angle to the main range, faces the lane to Doddiscombsleigh and has been extended by a single-storey slate-roofed block with an end stack. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window front with the eaves thatch eyebrowed over 2 first floor C20 timber casements with glazing bars. C20 front door with thatched porch canopy flanked by C20 timber bow windows with glazing bars; thatch carried down as a catslide to the outshut at the right end of the range. The left return (the front elevation of the wing) has steps up to a C20 door to the left, 3 first floor C20 timber casements with glazing bars and similar ground floor windows except 1 which is a C20 timber sash. Interior: Not fully inspected. The main range, the Post Office, has 2 chamfered stopped crossbeams and is said to have a large open fireplace at the right end now concealed by shelving. The wing also has exposed crossbeams. Roof: Not inspected at time of survey (1986) but timbers said to be of small scantling. The Post Office is in a crucial position in Lower Ashton and forms a group with Forge Cottage and Blatchford.

Listing NGR: SX8444684228